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A review by charlotteleonie
Yang Sheng by Katie Brindle
4.0
5 stars for the content of the book! I loved how Katie Brindle structured her work. And I also loved (!!) the practical orientation of it. Daoism and TCM can be very theoretical and complex / confusing. I think Brindle did a very good job of giving exercises and a way of practical living for all the concepts etc. On the other hand I think the explanations itself were not that good and to the point, sometimes. I understand that it is very hard to explain such "foreign" concepts and exercises simple and clearly. But even with some background knowledge I found it hard to understand some of the explanations.
My concern is that bad explanations could scare off some people who are already on the fence about such "esoteric nonsense" and let them think badly of TCM / Daoism. Which is simply not justified.
Following this I also have to mention how -while reading- I didn't like how Brindle didn't back up her (scientific) claims about TCM. Not only is this a huge pet peeve of mine but I also worried about the before mentioned concern that the book could play into the "esoteric gibberish" category (for some people and scare them off TCM / Daoism). Therefore I was very happy and relieved when I found the bibliography at the end. (But if you already have a bibliography - why not work with endnotes so the reader can easily connect which source or study backs up / belongs to which text passage?)
As I am already familiar with Daoism I personally would have loved a little bit more explanation of the theoretical backgrounds of the exercises - but I also see that I am not the typical target audience and that the theory described in the book is probably enough for the majority of readers. On the other hand, I don't quite know who the target audience is supposed to be. I have the feeling it is specifically targeted towards women (see sentences like "is your bra too tight?") and I have to admit, I don't like this. Self-care and Yang sheng are for everybody and I think the contents of the book are good for everybody.
Lastly, I am not quite sure how I like the Kindle version. I love how it worked with links and in this regard I think it probably stands out to the physical copy. But on the other hand some of the tables were really not Kindle-friendly and just not readable.
My concern is that bad explanations could scare off some people who are already on the fence about such "esoteric nonsense" and let them think badly of TCM / Daoism. Which is simply not justified.
Following this I also have to mention how -while reading- I didn't like how Brindle didn't back up her (scientific) claims about TCM. Not only is this a huge pet peeve of mine but I also worried about the before mentioned concern that the book could play into the "esoteric gibberish" category (for some people and scare them off TCM / Daoism). Therefore I was very happy and relieved when I found the bibliography at the end. (But if you already have a bibliography - why not work with endnotes so the reader can easily connect which source or study backs up / belongs to which text passage?)
As I am already familiar with Daoism I personally would have loved a little bit more explanation of the theoretical backgrounds of the exercises - but I also see that I am not the typical target audience and that the theory described in the book is probably enough for the majority of readers. On the other hand, I don't quite know who the target audience is supposed to be. I have the feeling it is specifically targeted towards women (see sentences like "is your bra too tight?") and I have to admit, I don't like this. Self-care and Yang sheng are for everybody and I think the contents of the book are good for everybody.
Lastly, I am not quite sure how I like the Kindle version. I love how it worked with links and in this regard I think it probably stands out to the physical copy. But on the other hand some of the tables were really not Kindle-friendly and just not readable.